The New England Patriots have spent all week trying to figure out what went wrong in their loss to the Miami Dolphins. The team was not expecting to drop a game to a division opponent in the first week of the season, but here they are trying to now prepare for the Minnesota Vikings after the 20-18 loss. Tom Brady admits there is some chemistry issues that need sorting out while Rob Gronkowski believes rust played a factor.
If Gronkowski had rust, he really did not show it. The tight end returned to the field after tearing his ACL last December and missing almost all of training camp and the preseason to put up 40 yards on four catches and a touchdown. Considering Julian Edelman led the group with 95 yards, the 40 that Gronkowski had is considered a win. However, the tight end is not satisfied and is determined to improve.
"Just got to keep on working. Obviously it shows that there's much room for improvement," Gronkowski said, via the Providence Journal. "You don't want to catch just four balls when you have 11 thrown your way. It starts on the practice field. Just getting the chemistry and timing down with the wide receivers and quarterbacks. It's going well, working hard this week, concentrating on the Vikings."
Gronkowski's playing time will increase each week. Against the Dolphins, the tight end played on 44 percent of the offensive snaps, something he said was perfect for his first game back after the injury. He plans on getting his number called more times as the weeks progress and he trusts the coach's ability to work him back into the offense.
"I just have to keep on improving every single week , going out there during practice, running around more, blocking, and overall improving throughout the whole area of the game," Gronkowski said. "Whatever the coaches have for me, that's what I've got to do. Just go out there and perform."
As Gronkowski gets worked in more, other players might be getting worked out of the offense. According to ESPNBoston.com's Mike Reiss, the Patriots want to extend the playing time of newly acquired Tim Wright in hopes of getting him into an Aaron Hernandez type role. Aaron Dobson is also looking to return from injury. That could mean Danny Amendola sees less playing time. In his second year with the team the wide receiver was expected to make that leap into the elite category, but three catches for 16 yards is not going to cut it and if he fails to improve, Amendola's future is not looking good.
